"I Saw a Peacock," anonymous lyric

I SAW A PEACOCK


I saw a peacock with a fiery tail

I saw a blazing comet drop down hail

I saw a cloud with ivy circled round

I saw a sturdy oak creep on the ground

I saw a pismire swallow up a whale

I saw a raging sea brim full of ale

I saw a Venice glass sixteen foot deep

I saw a well full of men's tears that weep

I saw their eyes all in a flame of fire

I saw a house as big as the moon and higher

I saw the sun even in the midst of night

I saw the man that saw this wondrous sight.



Source of the text - The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes, Second Edition, Edited by Iona and Peter Opie.  Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997, page 405.

TJB: In this litany riddle constructed of anaphora, couplets, & seeming paradox, each line’s second clause modifies the prior as well as the next line.